Ring of Fire: A Fellowship Reborn
by Aaron Ledgers
Summary: Victoria is the girl who's always smiling... the girl who walks into a room, talks to you for five minutes, and leaves a happy memory that lasts the rest of your life. The girl who's pretty, vibrant, and sparkles with hope. But you see, this girl has a secret... a painful, tormenting, and utterly devastating secret. Not even being tossed into Middle Earth can change fate, right...?
1. Chapter One: A Typical Sunday

**Chapter One: A Typical Sunday  
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Our story begins... with a truck going too fast, and a sixteen-year-old girl crossing the street without looking both ways.

The only warning Victoria Richardson had was the blaring of the horn and the sound of tires screeching across concrete: she instantly locked up in terror and nearly dropped the paper shopping bags in her arms, lime green eyes sightlessly flashing around. However, the sensation of a large vehicle whisking past her body soothed the fear that had bloomed in her heart. She heard the driver shouting an insult, something about wanting to get killed...

But then, nothing.

All sound soon faded, and the darkness returned to her.

After blinking a few times and hefting her grocery bags, Vicky closed her pale green eyes and took a few breaths in an attempt to find her center: since she'd lost her concentration, she couldn't _'see'_ anything around her. After relaxing her body and letting her mind sink into an unfeeling state, the redhead's awareness slowly began to expand: the familiar shapes of the buildings soon loomed up and formed solid outlines in her mind. The slender girl silently headed across the street, plodding towards the church in an almost robotic manner. She'd done this so many times over the years that it was almost instinct.

She didn't know how she did it, nor had she ever questioned it: this was simply how she got around from place to place.

When the blind girl headed into the dining room and set the bags on the counter, she hesitantly got down on all fours in order to look for the cat. However, her hair got caught on the chair in the process and jerked her head a little, making her wince: she hated having long hair, especially since it hung down below her backside, because it was always getting caught on stuff and people were always jerking on it. Sadly, though, Vicky's foster parents had fervently told her that she wasn't allowed to cut it since only good children could have what they wanted. What she had done to be bad, she didn't really know.

Then again... adults do know best.

After unhooking her hair from the chair she'd gotten it caught on and tossing a stick of jerky to the cat, who was snoozing under the table, the tiny redhead carefully stood up and felt her way over to the walls. Once she'd found the curtains, she pulled them open one after the other and stepped backwards, giving a tiny nod; then she stumbled over to the counter and felt around for the radio.

With a flick and a twist, the six o'clock morning news came out of the dusty speakers.

"—_he authorities have identified the man who reportedly broke out of a high security penitentiary yesterday night,"_ the newsman was in the middle of saying; Vicky pattered off to the kitchen, not really listening since it wasn't exactly all that surprising to hear about prison break-outs in recent years. She grabbed her apron off the rack and tied her hair back before gathering some ingredients by touch and smell. "_Under the cover of last night's storm, he has disappeared, and as of yet there have been no reported sightings of him. Tirone should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. In other news, for today's weather—"_

"Yeah, yeah," Vicky muttered, closing her eyes with a sigh as she pulled down a saucepan from a cabinet. "Today is sunny like always... lower eighties and high nineties with a dry spell splashed in between. Not like it makes any difference... we live in Los Angeles."

While she was muttering, she turned on the stove and cracked an egg over the fryer.

Her plan had been to make an omelet, but then a bit of shell got in: when she tried to get it out, she accidentally burned herself.

"Ouch!" the girl squeaked, waving her hand and sucking on her finger in dismay. "Shoot... I have to get the shell out..."

A few more attempts at getting the eggshell out yielded the same painful result, and by the time she finally succeeded, the omelet itself was burning. Vicky sighed in dismay and put it on a plate before continuing with the rest of the omelets; once those were done, she diced some fresh mushrooms and sauteed them before throwing a slab of ham on the fryer. Pretty soon, the smell of cooking food roused her family and footsteps echoed down the stairs.

"Good morning," Vicky called, hastily bringing the plates out and setting them along the table. "Did you sleep well?"

There was no response, as usual.

_Seems like they're taciturn as ever, _the girl mentally sighed, wincing when her sorta, kinda-parents sat down and primly folded their hands. Father Pedro and his wife, Joanna, had been forced to take her in ten years ago after she'd washed up on the Pacific shoreline with no memories of how she'd gotten there or even who she was. On top of that, the fact that she was blind had made things even more difficult and complex. People used to gossip that she might have been the sole survivor of a cruise ship that had capsized out on the ocean a few weeks before she'd washed ashore.

In truth, Vicky would probably never know.

Oh, dear!" Joanna suddenly sneered, making the redhead blink in confusion. "Victoria, were you hiding this?"

"Hiding... what?" the redhead plainly asked, cocking her head with a dismayed expression. "I... I can't exactly see what you're talking about."

"Victoria Rose," Father Pedro stated in a neutral voice; the redhead blinked and turned her head to hear better when the sound of a scrape and a clank met her ears, but when he spoke again, his voice came from directly in front of her. "We did not raise our children to cover up their failures: make my omelet over again and clean up your mess."

Vicky was just about to ask 'what mess?' when something wet plopped down on top of her head.

The blind girl flinched and lifted her hands, touching whatever had hit her with vacant green eyes. However, when she heard Father Pedro snort and smelled the ham and eggs, she realized with a jolt of shock that he'd dumped his plate on top of her head. The girl instantly lowered her vacant green eyes and hurried into the kitchen, taking a few minutes to clean her hair out before remaking his plate from scratch. Once she'd brought it back out and had cleaned up the floor, something hard smashed into her foot and made her squeak in surprise.

If she wasn't mistaken... it was a very unfriendly high-heeled shoe.

"Move out of the way," a snide voice snapped, making the redhead wince. "Even if you can't see me, watch where you're walking!"

It was Maria... her foster sister.

In Vicky's opinion, the name was too pretty for a girl with such a nasty personality.

"Sorry," she muttered, not really knowing which way to go; before she could say anything more, the edge of her dress was flipped into the air without warning and her underwear was revealed. Vicky shrieked and clamped both hands down on her skirt, shaking violently and staring off into space with large green eyes: that little prank had been pulled by her foster brother, Gabriel. "Gabe, you little creep, don't do that! It's inappropriate!"

"Who cares?" the eight-year-old sneered, giving a snooty little shrug. "You're just a maid! You don't get to tell me what to do!"

_This brat,_ Vicky silently growled, smiling despite her twitching eyebrow. _I swear, he acts more and more like Maria every day._

"Now, now, behave," Joanna stated softly, nasty personality doing a total u-turn. "Let's all sit down and eat the meal the Lord has provided for us."

_Thanks for the compliment, _Vicky sarcastically thought, taking a seat and letting out a sigh of relief. _Although, that's kind of blasphemous. Sorry, God..._

She felt exhausted and it wasn't even noon yet. Breakfast passed without much event, aside from having a few mushrooms thrown at her by Gabriel... after that, though, is when chores began and she honestly hated doing them since she couldn't even see where she was going.

First up was mopping: she swept, scrubbed, and mopped... that is, until Maria kicked the bucket and it landed on her head.

Second up was laundry: she washed the clothes by hand, hung them out to dry, and smoothed out the wrinkles... until her brother decided to pick on her. Without her knowledge, Gabriel was watching her work from behind his large glasses, perched up in a tree: Maria was making gestures at him from the window, but the little boy's face fell when Vicky started humming a soft melody down by the clothesline.

Still, despite his reluctance, he picked an orange off the tree and called out to her.

"Hey, Carrot-Top!" Gabriel shouted, wincing when the redhead jumped and stopped what she was doing; he knew she couldn't see, so he didn't understand why she always turned to face the people speaking to her. "Below the orange tree is the ocean, so right now you're underwater! Okay?"

"Huh?" the redhead called back, blinking in puzzlement. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're in the ocean!" Gabriel called back; he pouted when Marie made a throwing gesture from her spot in the window, but without a word, the little boy threw the fruit in his hand and forced himself to laugh aloud when it hit the girl in the face. When the orange rolled off to the side, far out of reach, Maria made a few more gestures. "Hey! Pick up my orange, Carrot-top!"

"O-okay!" the blind girl shakily squeaked, slowly getting down on her hands and knees and feeling around for the fruit. Gabriel watched as she patted the ground, but he felt extremely sick with himself since the orange was only a foot away from her in the opposite direction. Still, she continued to look for it... but Maria's playtime wasn't over yet: she made a swimming gesture and the little boy sighed.

"You're in the ocean!" Gabriel shouted, leaning forward in the tree. "People can't crawl in water! Swim for it!"

Green eyes filling with frustrated tears, Vicky made small hand gestures and tried to look like she was swimming even as she crawled around in search of his orange: whenever she was around other people, she wasn't able to find her center and she couldn't see where she was going. That also meant that the little things, such as picking up the shape of an orange with her mind, were pretty much non-existent. She floundered around for about three more minutes before her hand brushed against the fruit.

"I-I found it!" the blind girl cried, eyes widening in delight; she grinned and shakily stood up, completely unaware that Gabriel had thrown another orange while his sister, Maria, had turned away from the window to grab something. "I found it! Yay!"

Gabriel's eyes widened when Maria pressed a notepad against the glass of her window: the words '_throw some rocks and push her down'_ had been written on it with a black marker. The little boy frantically shook his head until his big sister wrote '_do it or I'll tell Mom you disobeyed me'_ on the note pad and turned up her nose; with unhappy eyes, he pulled several rocks out of his pocket and looked at Vicky.

"Heads up, carrot-top!" the child stammered, drawing his fist back and throwing the rock. "Take this!"

The girl lifted her head up just in time for it to smack her on the shoulder.

Her vacant green eyes popped open wide and she instantly flailed around for the object that had hit her, but she let out a squeak of pain when the next stone smacked her in the knee. She lifted her arms in front of her face, awkwardly trying to shield it with hands that couldn't predict where the next projectile would strike: that was the worst part about being blind. However, she was rather startled when she caught the last stone in her hand by chance.

"Huh?" the redhead wondered, shakily lowering her arms and feeling the stone with a confused expression. "Is... is this a rock?"

"Yep!" Gabriel gleefully shouted, taking the opportunity to jump down from the tree; then he charged forward and pushed Vicky over like Maria had instructed. When the girl lost her balance and landed on her back with a startled cry, the little boy glanced up at the window and laughed they way his sister was gesturing for him to do. However, before anything else could be done or said, a startled shout came from somewhere inside the church, making all three adolescents jump in surprise.

"Victoria Richardson, get your scrawny little backside in here!" Joanna screamed, making the redhead scramble back to her feet. "NOW!"

"Ack! C-coming!" the blind girl cried, frantically feeling her way over to the doors and hurrying inside; however, she frowned when she found herself standing in the room she'd only recently mopped. "Yes, Joanna?"

"What is the meaning of this?" the woman snapped, gripping her skinny shoulders and jerking her forward; the scent of floral perfume wafted over the blind girl's face. "Can you explain to me why there's a dark stain on the carpet and wooden floor?

"Huh?! A stain?" the redhead squeaked, vacant green eyes widening in shock; she instantly dropped to her knees and felt around, but her movements slowed when she found a wet spot on the carpet that hadn't been there earlier. She had a mental flash of Maria kicking the bucket on her and winced before closing her eyes. "U-um... it was... the mop bucket, I think. I must have spilled it..."

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS IS GOING TO COST?!" the woman screeched, slapping Vicky full in the face before jerking her down the hall towards the basement cellar. With little fanfare, the woman threw her inside and slammed the door shut with a deafening bang: the sound of jingling keys filled the air soon afterwards. "Getting away with things just because you can't see anything isn't gonna fly around here, young lady! Since you can't see how dark it is, why not stay in the basement for a while?"

The sound of angry high heels clacking against the floor soon began to fade away... and Vicky was alone in the dark once again.

She slowly shifted her position and buried her face in her knees.

The world around her was merely hidden by a dark veil... a black curtain that had only been cast over her eyes.

The darkness wasn't absolute... in fact, it wasn't even true darkness.

Even though she couldn't see, the world around her was normally full of sound and life... wind blowing through trees, insects crawling along the earth... living things with their own individual worlds. However, the basement held true darkness... it wasn't as much a sense of sight than it was feeling: it brought her nothing but loneliness. Ever since she'd woken up on the shore, she'd been told over and over again that she was useless.

That she was good for nothing.

That she was an accident.

That she was a waste of life.

That she was ugly...

If it hadn't been for her two best friends and all of the people at school, Vicky would have thought she really _was_ ugly compared to other fifteen-year-old girls: she had been told as much by lots of different people on several occasions, but since she couldn't even see her own face, she hadn't known what to believe. In the end, she'd merely accepted herself since there was nothing she could do: if ugly was what she was, that was the way it would stay.

After all, adults know best.

The few times she'd tried to deny that fact...

_No... _the girl stated silently, closing her eyes with a violent shiver. _I will not go there. I will not think of it._

Taking a breath and fighting back her own memories, Vicky slowly crawled over to the door and pressed her cheek against it... then she closed her eyes. She'd been planning on taking a nap, but the sound of light footsteps plodding down the hall met her sensitive ears. The girl kept her eyes closed, but she did let out a sigh when she heard someone sitting down and pressing their back against the door.

"Hey, Miss Victoria?" Gabriel timidly called, making the older girl frown; he almost never called her 'miss.' "I... um, can I talk?"

"Of course you can," the redhead laughed, slowly opening her eyes; the darkness didn't budge an inch, even with her eyes open. She was so tired that she didn't even care anymore. "I'm nothing but a maid, right? I don't exactly have a say... so, go ahead and talk as much as you like, okay?"

For several moments, everything was completely silent... but then...

"I don't hate you," the little boy weakly explained, making Vicky blink in surprise. "You're the only one who really smiles at me, Vicky... it's not the same with Mommy and Daddy since they always yell at people right after they smile. Plus, you always remember the way I like my pancakes, and you're the only one who's ever noticed when I got sad. Maria made me do those mean things to you today... I didn't want to, but Mommy told me to listen to her since she's older than me."

"Hey, don't worry about it," the blind girl sighed, tapping the door. "Maria is a good girl deep down inside... I know she'll come around someday, but I really do appreciate the fact that you told me this. I honestly thought you were doing it because you wanted to, and now I feel lots better since it means that you weren't in the wrong. Listen, Gabriel... everyone, no matter who they are, makes mistakes: that goes for you, me, Maria, and even your mother and father. Nobody's perfect."

"Really?" Gabriel asked in a forlorn voice. "Well... promise you won't tell Maria I tattled?"

"If that's what you want, I promise," the girl mumbled back, closing her eyes once again. "Even though it's not through blood... you're my little brother, Gabe. Families need to stick together."

Gabriel sat with his back against the door for a long time, smiling because of her statement... but unknown to either of them, Maria was sitting on the stairs and glowering at her sibling's happy expression with jealous eyes. By the time Joanna came to get her, the little boy had fallen asleep with his back against the door, and Maria had vanished from her lookout on the stairs.

"G-Gabriel?" the woman squawked, rousing him into wakefulness. "What are you doing?! Why were you sleeping there?!"

"Oh, I wanted to keep Victoria some company," the little boy groggily replied, rubbing his eyes. "Sorry, Mommy... I fell asleep."

"That's not an issue right now," she huffed, shoving the key in the lock and twisting with a fierce yank: when the door was pulled open, Vicky's sleeping form slipped off the door and she squeaked when she landed on her back. "Wake up, you stupid girl! I've already drawn the water, so go take a bath and wash yourself! I had no idea such filth was growing in the basement... my husband just told me that there's a poisonous mold in there, so you _need _to get yourself clean and dry before the oils seep into your skin."

"P-p-poison?! For real?!" the girl shrieked, scrambling to her feet and tearing up the stairs. "I'm going!"

She ran into the wall by accident on her way into the bathroom, but after that she was home free.

All in all, her bath was short and sweet, and she felt extremely clean after it was done... but there was still the rest of the day to think about.

It wasn't even relatively close to lunch time yet, which meant that she still had an entire day to get through.

This was ultimately the biggest reason why she hated the weekends: without school or outings in general, she was stuck at home.

Unfortunately, when she climbed out and felt around for her clothes, she realized with a jolt of startled surprise that they were gone. After patting the floor with large eyes, Vicky shakily flicked the switch to drain the tub and climbed out of it. The girl wrung the water out of her long hair and wrapped a towel around herself before moving out into the hall towards the stairs.

"Well, did you have a nice bath?" Maria suddenly giggled; Vicky paused for a moment since her voice had come from in front of the stairs. "Not like it matters, though: trash will always be trash, even if you wash it with water and soap."

"I apologize for talking back," the blind girl stated evenly, lowering her head and making to walk past, "but I am _not_ trash."

However, the redhead twitched when Maria grabbed the towel and pulled her to a halt just before she could head down the stairs.

"Towels are for wiping, stupid," Maria stated snidely, tugging on the cloth and trying to pull it off her. "Not for wearing."

"Let go!" Vicky squeaked, jerking the towel out of Maria's hands and stepping away from her. "Please, stop it!"

"_I_ give the orders, not you!" Maria snapped, dark braids flopping around as she gripped the towel. "Just let it go and walk around naked!"

"Get off me, Maria!" Vicky shouted back, flailing around and blindly trying to pull away from her. "Seriously, get off!"

When the blind girl lost her balance and purposely fell on her backside to avoid injuring herself, Maria started laughing at her: however, before Vicky could comprehend what was going on, the older girl's dainty little foot smacked into her chest. The redhead let out a squeak and threw her hands behind her when she lost her balance, but nothing was there: her fingers were met with nothing but empty air. With a horrible jolt, Vicky realized that she must have fallen down right in front of the stairs.

And she was right: all of a sudden, the world tilted upright and her sense of up and down shifted in a dizzying manner.

Vicky shrieked as she tumbled down all sixteen stairs, but then... quite abruptly... the pain was over and she lay crumpled up at the bottom of the stairwell with her long hair spread out around her body. After a moment, the girl curled up into a little ball and cradled her throbbing arm: it wasn't broken, she was sure of that, but it still hurt and her upper torso was definitely bruised. She slowly sat up when she heard Maria let out an angry huff.

"You're boring," the seventeen-year-old girl muttered, storming off towards her room. "Get a life!"

"Ugh... I have a better life than you do, bitch: at least I have _friends,"_ Vicky groaned, slowly crawling to her feet. "Still, I might not even live to see my eighteenth birthday if you keep doing this kind of crap to me."

Sadly, she knew that wasn't true: this was the kind of treatment she'd been given from the very beginning, and here she was... still alive and breathing.

About an hour later, Father Pedro halted her chores by calling her into the chapel: however, she was kind of startled when he thrust a box full of clothes into her arms. After taking the time to feel them, she realized that they were all dresses... and not just any dresses, these were clothes that had belonged to Maria once upon a time. The man slowly folded his hands and stared at her vacant green eyes with a condescending expression.

"Thank you, sir," Vicky stated quietly, lifting her sightless eyes in confusion, "but why are you giving me these?"

"Victoria, do you remember the news from this morning?" the priest stated in a kindly tone; the girl blinked since his words seemed to be completely coated in honey. "Here in Los Angeles, adolescents in your situation are sometimes forced to make their living by selling their bodies or selling drugs because nobody will take them in. You do know who it was who saved you from that fate, right? You know who it was that saved your life?"

"Yes," the redhead stated quietly, closing her eyes with a shiver.

"Who was it?" the pastor inquired, taking on a sinister tone.

"It was God," Vicky shakily replied, tensing her shoulders: she could feel his animosity spark at the response. "God saved me."

"In other words..." Father Pedro drawled, waiting for her to continue.

"It was... you," the blind girl finally whispered, feeling sick inside her heart and stomach. "Father."

"I'm glad you understand your position. Now, go get dressed in one of those outfits: someone is coming to check on you, and I want you looking nice for him," the pastor stated piously, patting her shoulder on the way out; however, the blind girl felt no warmth from his touch since it had all come together in her mind. She knew exactly why he was doing this now. "Thou shalt not avenge, but love thy neighbor as thy self."

Victoria stood there long after his footsteps had faded, holding the box of clothes.

_"_He just bought me off," the blind girl stated blankly, turning around and heading towards her bedroom. "He totally just bought me off with Maria's old hand-me-downs. What kind of nut-case is he?"

Still, that didn't stop the redhead from slipping one of the long-sleeved dresses over her head: the clothes may have been hand-me-downs, but they were way more fashionable than the scratchy dresses and sweaters Joanna had given her. Once she'd fastened her braid with a hair-tie, she spun around the room and smiled a little when the skirt of her new dress billowed around her legs in a pleasant manner.

She loved it already... and even if she couldn't see what it looked like, she knew it was probably cute since Maria like beautiful clothes.

By the time she started working on lunch, she had a big grin on her face and her spirits were high: the visitor that Father Pedro had mentioned was already sitting in the living room with Joanna, so she wasn't exactly surprised when the woman started chatting about the furniture in a sweet and motherly tone.

"Oho, wow, the cushions are softer than I expected," a cheerful voice exclaimed, catching the girl's attention. "This is a nice piece of furniture! Mahogany wood, too... it must have set you back a bit as far as money goes!"

"Oh, my goodness, not at all!" Joanna trilled, laughing in an exceedingly nervous manner. "It was a gift from one of the people who flock to the church. Oh, one moment... let me call her! Victoria, dear! Your visitor has arrived! We're in the living room, so come on over here, okay? We're both waiting for you!"

"Coming, Joanna!" the blind girl called, setting down her spatula and grabbing the cup of tea she'd set on the counter only a few minutes before; after dusting off her apron and hastily making her way over to where her foster mother was waiting, the girl put the cup in front of the arrival. "Here you are... it's nice to see you again, Mr. Ricardi."

"Vicky, dear, there you are!" Joanna exclaimed, speaking in a tone that was positively full of false cheer. "My... that dress actually looks very pretty on you. I'm rather surprised, actually... I'm guessing Maria decided to lend you some of her clothes? You two are getting along so well these days, aren't you! Sharing things the way sisters should!"

"You look like you're doing all right, Vicky," the social worker sighed. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, sir," the redhead replied, nodding and clasping her hands. "Even though I can't see anything, I've managed to find my way around Los Angeles without much trouble, and I'm also learning lots of life skills. The chores are fair, I'm having fun at high school, my grades are a little bit above average, and things are calm."

"That's good to hear," Mr. Ricardi sighed, sounding thoroughly pleased.

"I left the stove on, so I have to excuse myself now," Vicky politely stated, giving him a little nod before hurrying back towards the kitchen. She overheard Joanna gushing about her even though she didn't really mean any of it, but it still felt kind of nice being acknowledged as a member of the family once in a while. "I'll be done in about ten minutes, though!"

"That girl is incredible," Joanna whispered in a hushed tone after she left the room. "She supposedly can't see anything, but she almost never runs into things and she has an alarming knack of knowing where everyone in the church is at any given time. She honestly spooks me with her accuracy every now and then."

"I'm not surprised," Mr. Ricardi stated quietly, making Joanna fall silent. "I don't think the subject ever came up, but back when we first found her on the beach, that girl could somehow see us even though her pupils were already cloudy. It was suggested by a friend of mine recently that maybe she has ESP or something, so I bought a few cards with me today... and I was wondering if you'd be all right with it if I gave her a little test."

"A... test?" Joanna asked, sounding a bit confused; Vicky frowned and slowed down with the cooking process. "What kind of test are you talking about, and what on earth is ESP?"

"It's a test to see whether or not she's got psychic talent," the man stated simply, ignoring how the woman gasped and choked on her tea; similarly, Vicky dropped her spatula and hurried over to the door with large eyes. "ESP is an extremely rare extrasensory perception skill... in other words, a sixth sense: or rather, in Victoria's case, it could be her missing fifth sense. The girl lacks the ability to see anything, so she could very well be using ESP to create an image of what's around her. Hence why I brought the cards: I simply want to see if I'm correct about my hunch."

"Well, as long as she's not... crazy or anything, I really don't care," Joanna stated bluntly, making the redhead wince. "I don't know the first thing about ESP, but if you think she has it, feel free to run as many tests as you want. I'm sure she won't mind, either... feel free to ask her at dinner time. Er... that is, you will stay for dinner, right? Vicky has developed a fine taste for making good food, and it's rather amazing since she can't even see what she's doing."

"Sure, I'll stay for supper," Mr. Ricardi chuckled.

_Great... _Vicky silently complained. _More pretending._


	2. Chapter Two: A Not-So-Typical Dinner

**Chapter Two: A Not-So-Typical Dinner  
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By the time Mr. Ricardi finished his tea and Joanna stopped gushing her lies, Victoria was done cooking.

"Everyone, supper is ready!" the redhead called, turning the stove off and setting the plates on the table before unhooking her apron; after hanging it on the rack, the blind girl waited until everyone shuffled into the room to make herself scarce. "Enjoy the meal... I'll be taking my leave now."

"Wait, aren't you hungry?" Maria carefully deadpanned, grabbing the smaller girl's shoulders from behind; she instantly stiffened in dismay. "Aw, don't be so antisocial, _Vicky!_ You can sit between me and Gabriel if you want to! Come on, it's a special offer!"

"Yeah, Victoria!" the little boy chimed in, sounding overly excited. "Sit next to me!"

"Well, okay," the redhead mumbled, turning around and hesitantly sliding into the seat they'd offered. "I guess I will."

However, she could feel Mr. Ricardi staring at her, so she poured herself a glass of water and merely sipped on it: for some reason or another, there was a very heavy atmosphere hanging above the dining table... almost as though a storm cloud were getting ready to burst and rain down on them. For a while, only the scrapes of forks and knives against the porcelain china filled the silence of the room... but then, Joanna spoke up.

"Mr. Ricardi, may I ask you something?" the blonde woman inquired, smiling at him with pleasant blue eyes. "Are you familiar with the Devotee of the Year?"

"Sorry, I can't say that I am," the man chuckled, patting his belly. "What's the Devotee of the Year?"

"It's right up there," Joanna giggled, glancing at Father Pedro before nodding at an award that had been mounted on the fireplace mantle. "It's only given to those who have performed outstanding deeds, and believe it or not, my husband was fortunate enough to be chosen this year. It came as quite a shock to all of us."

"Interesting," the social worker stated, twisting around and eyeing the plaque. "That's quite a prize you've got there."

"There was a young man in the community," Joanna continued, planting her chin on her palm with a dreamy expression. "Antonio Gonzalas was his name... he was truly rotten to the core. Drugs, illegal activity, rape, male prostitution... he was doing all sorts of vulgar things, but one sermon from Pedro turned his life around. Even now, he's an upstanding member of society."

"Really?" the social worker asked, sounding thoroughly amazed by her claim. "That's extremely impressive."

_No... it's a flat-out lie,_ Victoria silently retorted, closing her eyes with a shiver. _Gonzalas only changed because of the bullet that was lodged in his head._

It was true: shockingly enough, she had been there when the incident had taken place last year.

The day Gonzalas had been shot had started off like any other: she'd gotten up early, aired out the blankets, and had gone shopping at the local grocery store since it had been a Saturday... but on her way back to the church, gunfire had erupted not even ten meters away from where she'd been standing. Soon afterwards came the sound of a woman's horrified scream, and a heavy body fell to the ground with a loud thud. Even though she hadn't been able to see it, the sounds had given her a clear afterimage of what had transpired.

Father Pedro had taken advantage of the man's vegetative state after it was proclaimed that he would never recover.

He was literally that starved for attention.

"So… what about the other kids?" Mr. Ricardi asked, setting down his fork and looking at Victoria's foster siblings. "How's your schoolwork coming along, Maria?"

"Alwight," the dark-haired girl cheerfully exclaimed, looking at him brightly.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" Father Pedro scolded her, holding his fork up. "Use your manners!"

"Sorry, Papa," Maria mumbled after swallowing, giving him a little apologetic shrug. "I was just so excited because of the attention... I couldn't help it."

"What about you, Gabriel?" Mr. Ricardi inquired, looking at the little boy when he paused. "How are your studies going?"

"They're fun," the little boy quietly admitted, smiling up at Victoria without her knowledge; the blind girl was sitting with her eyes closed and sipping on her water. "My favorite class is history, though, because right after Mommy finishes teaching me for the day, Victoria brings me dinner and tells me stories about the world."

"Really?" the social worker asked, beaming at the redhead when she choked in surprise and flushed redder than her hair. "Well, that's kind of her."

"It's really nothing," Vicky instantly protested, cheeks growing hot with a blush. "I... I mean, I love history, too... so, I thought it would be fun to tell him a few stories using what I'm learning from my own classes at school!"

"Interesting concept," the man stated softly, fiddling around in his pocket and carefully pulling out a pack of cards. "In reality, you're teaching him in a roundabout and memorable way. Once he gets to be in your age group, I'm fairly certain that he'll remember the stories you talk about now and recognize the areas of study a lot easier than he would, otherwise. It's an indirect and brilliant way to insight healthy learning... although, I'm guessing this wasn't your intention, was it?"

"No, not at all! I didn't even think about it like that!" the blind girl squeaked, waving her hand in protest. "I just thought it would be fun to tell him about what I learned in a story-book manner since he seemed really interested in it!"

"Victoria, I want to try something with you," Mr. Ricardi stated seriously, making everyone look at him with raised eyebrows. "It's a little game called, 'Guess that Shape' and apparently a lot of people are having fun with it all over the place these days. Do you think you'd like to play it with me? You know, just for the heck of it?"

"Um, sure, I guess so," the blind girl cautiously replied, green eyes glittering with wariness. "What do I have to do?"

"Well, I'm going to hold up a card," the social worker explained, pulling a card out of the pack and lifting it up, "and what I want you to do is close your eyes, picture the card in your mind, and try to guess the shape on it without actually seeing it."

"What sort of nonsense is this?" Father Pedro instantly demanded, frowning at the man. "She's blind, isn't she? Why would you mock such a severe handicap?"

"I'm not mocking her handicap," the big man chuckled, making the pastor shut his mouth. "This game is _very_ common among blind people, my friend."

"Is that so?" Father Pedro muttered, furrowing his brows and sitting back. "Well, you are a social worker... I'll take your word for it.a'

Thus, Pedro, Maria, Joanna, and Gabriel returned to eating their food and watched with mild interest as the man shuffled the cards. However, none of them really expected anything to come out of it when Mr. Ricardi held up the first card and told Victoria to guess the shape. After taking a deep breath, the blind girl closed her eyes and felt her world melting away... but then, out of the darkness behind her eyes, she actually _saw_ something.

For the first time in her life, she saw something other than darkness: a shape... a glowing pink star.

"A... a star?!" the girl gasped, green eyes flying open wide and locking on the card: Joanna jumped and stared at her eyes more closely, since it was the first time they'd ever moved. "It's... it's a star!"

"Correct..." the social worker muttered, staring at the card with raised eyebrows. "Now, what card is this?"

When he pulled the next one out, she saw a glowing pink circle melting out of the darkness.

"It's a circle," the girl stated breathlessly, eyes widening in shock. "I... don't get it! I can _see_ it, I think... in my head, not with my eyes! At least, I don't think it's with my eyes... I mean, there's bits of something bright... and... and it _traces_ the shape!"

Gabriel, Maria, Joanna, and Pedro Martinez all stared at the scene in front of them with open mouths.

More cards were drawn, but every single shape was guessed correctly, one after the other, over a thousand times. It even got to the point where Mr. Ricardi started counting each time the redheaded girl got an answer correct. Thus, after about an hour of sitting at the table, the man finally put the cards down and took the girl's hand in his own.

The sensation of cold metal was soon pressed against her fingers.

When she blinked and felt the object with confused eyes, he let go of her wrist and drew back with a serious expression.

"Victoria," Mr. Ricardi stated quietly, catching her attention, "this is the last part of the game, and you need to do as I say: in your hand is a metal spoon... and right now, I want you to close your eyes, focus your mind like you were doing with the cards, and try to picture it bending backwards inside your head. Can you do that for me? Can you focus your mind on the spoon and picture bending it?"

"Um, I can try," the girl replied, hesitantly closing her eyes. "Although, I really don't get why I have to do this..."

Truthfully, she was completely aware that the Martinez family was staring at her as though she'd grown another head, and she didn't like it, so she figured it would be best to finish the game and be done with it. Closing her eyes, she found her center and let her awareness spread out, waiting for her mind to engulf the shape of the spoon resting in her hands: once she had a solid image of the utensil floating behind her eyes, she pictured it bending into a pretzel by itself and imagined it spinning around in circles like a ballerina.

She didn't even realize that she'd let go of the handle while she was picturing this.

When her awareness finally dissolved, the spoon clattered to the table and silence was left in her wake.

"Oh, my God..." Joanna whispered, breaking the stillness of the air. "P-Pedro, I wasn't... seeing things just now, was I? What in the name of God _was_ that?!"

The girl opened her eyes with a flash of startled surprise upon hearing her foster mother's tone: she sounded almost... scared.

"M-Mommy," Gabriel fearfully whimpered, sounding almost on the verge of tears. "Why was the spoon dancing by itself?! Was it a ghost?"

"Dancing by itself? What do you mean?" Victoria asked, furrowing her brows in confusion; the blind girl blinked a few times and carefully felt around for the spoon, but when she touched it... her fingers froze and her face turned pale. The metal had been severely warped by something... and, if she was going to be honest, it felt more like she were touching a crumpled metal ball rather than a spoon. _"_W-what on earth?!"

"Jesus Christ, this incredible! I figured she'd be clairvoyant, but to think she actually has such powerful Psychokinesis!" Mr. Ricardi breathed, sounding thoroughly amazed. "Pedro, Joanna... your daughter is a truly amazing young woman: she could become famous with a talent like this!"

"W-what devilry is this?!" Father Pedro bellowed, completely shell shocked by the sight of the twisted spoon. "I've never seen such a thing in my entire life! It has to be the work of a demon! Are you sure our daughter isn't possessed by an evil spirit?!"

"Don't worry: this definitely isn't the work of a spirit, evil or otherwise," the man stated firmly, giving the pastor a reassuring smile. "Victoria is an omnipotent psychic, that's all. She has an unbelievable amount of ESP and she's also got some _extreme_ psychokinetic abilities judging by what I just saw! Wow!"

"It was weird," Maria muttered, sounding completely subdued for once. "It was weird, but... it was extremely cool, too: is it okay if I try the game?"

"Well, yes, but only if it's all right with your parents," Mr. Ricardi chuckled, pocketing the cards with a wink. "Mister and Missus Martinez, you don't need to worry about the display you just saw: after all, Victoria's had these abilities her whole life and she hasn't had a problem with them yet."

"Are you certain?" Joanna inquired, nervously pursing her lips. "Can't something like what we just saw be... I don't know... dangerous?"

"Well, possibly," the man admitted with a chuckle, "but I doubt her psychic abilities have developed enough for her to posses PKLT so early on, and quite possibly, she may never be able to achieve that level. Even what _we_ just saw is so rare that only one out of every three million children is capable of it... I have goosebumps! It's amazing! To think, she just lifted a spoon into the air without touching it... it's the best blatant display of PKST I've ever seen!"

"PKST? What's that?" Maria asked, leaning forward with hungry brown eyes. "Is it a super power or something?"

"No, not at all... PKST is the power to affect stationary objects with nothing but the mind," Mr. Ricardi carefully explained, leaning forward and spreading his hands. "The two major Divisions in supernatural ability are PK, which is short for Psychokinesis, and ESP, otherwise known as Extra Sensory Perception. ESP is the ability to become aware of things that normal people wouldn't sense: Telepathy, Empathy, and Clairvoyance are in this category... and judging by what I've seen, Victoria has been unconsciously using her gift of clairvoyance to see everything around her without actually using her eyes."

"Wow!" Gabriel squealed, leaping upright and staring at him with an open mouth. "So, she _can_ see even though she _can't_ see?! That's so cool!"

"Yes, I agree: it is pretty cool!" the social worker laughed, grinning at the child's exuberance. "However, she also possesses an astonishing amount of PK, as well. Psychokinesis is different from ESP: it's not a sensory ability, it's a gift stimulated by force of will... in other words, the power to literally _think_ objects into action. The three categories in this branch of psychic talent are '_PK-MT_', '_PK-ST_' and '_PK-LT'._ PKST is the ability to move static, or unmoving, targets: spoon bending and levitation would fall into this particular category. PKMT is the power to affect moving targets, more or less, and PKLT is the the power to affect living targets."

"So, what makes you think Victoria isn't capable of doing such a thing to living people?" Joanna nervously inquired. "I mean, couldn't a power like this be dangerous?!"

"Judging from what I've seen, I don't think the girl has that much power," Mr. Ricardi stated calmly. "Have you ever heard of the British psychic, Oliver Davis? He's one of the few people who's ever been publicly documented to have telekinetic abilities: they say he can slam a one-hundred-and-ten pound aluminum block into a brick wall, but he hasn't been able to perform PKLT and even PKMT sometimes becomes difficult for him during periods of stress. Scientists don't know much about those who have these gifts, but I'm fairly certain that this won't cause any problems in the future, especially since Victoria seems to have a very happy and stable life."

Right around that moment, the cat rubbed herself against the social worker's legs and distracted his attention from all the faces that turned pale.

"Ah, sorry," Victoria weakly mumbled, twitching her leg back when the cat's tail flicked against her skin. "She's a very social animal."

"My, what an adorable kitty," Mr. Ricardi exclaimed, leaning under the table and scratching the cat beneath the chin. "Does she belong to you, Joanna?"

"Well," the woman sighed, forcing a motherly smile, "Maria took the poor thing in, but the children just adore looking after her. I have to admit, I'm actually quite fond of her myself... _Blanco_ is a fine cat. That reminds me, though: who's on litter duty today?"

Maria instantly kicked Victoria in the shin with one of her high heels and innocently took a bite of her food when the redhead choked on her water.

"I-it's my turn," the blind girl spluttered, coughing a few times before she rubbed her stinging nose; her body was still sore from getting shoved down the stairs earlier, so the last thing she wanted was another bruise from Maria. Thus, dinner resumed and the uncomfortable air returned; after the dishes were cleared and the table had been wiped down, Mr. Ricardi made a promise to check up on Victoria in a month's time before handing a check to Joanna and taking his leave.

The redhead waited for him to go with dismayed eyes; then she headed upstairs for the evening.

After all, with no more chores, she could relax and go to sleep if she wanted.

Just as she sat down on her bed, the blonde woman burst into her bedroom and threw something on the ground in front of her with little care.

"Chore time," the woman stated coldly, staring at the redhead's vacant light green eyes with an envious expression. "Go get rid of this for me, and then you can do the dishes: once that's finished, you're free to do what you want for the rest of the night as long as you don't cause any trouble. Are we clear? Also... keep the freak show displays to a minimum: I don't want people thinking something bad about our church because of you."

"Y-yes, ma'am," Victoria stammered, swallowing at the sound of her hostility. "I'll do it right away, but... I don't even know how I did that thing with the spoon. I really don't. I just... pictured it in my head, and it somehow happened. I'm sorry."

With a fierce glare, the woman left the room in a flurry of action and slammed the door behind her: the redhead blinked a few times in dismay, but when she slowly got down on her hands and knees and felt around, she happened to touch something made out of rough cloth. The blind girl frowned and traced the shape of it with uncertain eyes: it was a potato sack, but whatever was inside it obviously wasn't a potato... it felt soft and plushy, but squishy in a weird way.

Then the bag moved, and the girl leapt back with a squeak of alarm, heart thudding against her chest.

However, her empty eyes widened when she heard a cat's high-pitched yowl of misery.


	3. Chapter Three: Enter the Crazy Girls

**Chapter Three: Enter The Crazy Girls  
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_The darkness around her... somehow, she could sense that it was different from the shadows that had always veiled her eyes.  
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_This was True Darkness: pitch black with the scent of something damp and musty… almost like the air of an old cellar. It seemed oddly familiar to her, even though she couldn't recall ever being in such place. The mustiness of this void was also accompanied by a faint metallic scent that burned her nose… copper? Or was it blood? The sound of water droplets falling into a puddle echoed from somewhere deep within the cold shadows, causing the hair on her neck to stand up. Upon sitting up, she felt something soft sliding over her shoulders and paused… she knew what it was... it was hair… yes, it was definitely her hair. She could remember that much despite not being able to see it: her hair was red, and extremely beautiful in the eyes of... _

_Wait... who? _

_Who was it who thought her hair was beautiful? _

_Better yet, who was she, and why on earth was she sitting in such a place?_

_"Where am I…?" Vicky wearily croaked, touching her forehead in groggy confusion. "How did I get here?"_

_After feeling around in the dark, her small hands were met with the sensation of slick, wet bricks: she couldn't remember how she'd gotten where she was, but she knew for a fact that she was touching one of the walls that surrounded her. Slowly getting up from the cold stone floor, the blind girl slowly felt around and tried to create an image in her head. The place was eerily silent... to the point where her shallow breathing seemed too loud. _

_Yet, despite the fact there was no sound other than her breathing, the girl somehow felt as though someone else was here in the dark – someone who was watching her move around with unfriendly eyes. Her small hand slipped on the slick wall when a set of footsteps echoed through the air directly in front of her… almost as though someone were walking down a long hall just on the other side of a nearby wall. Ignoring her blindness, Vicky hurried towards the source of the sound with her small hand still feeling for a door. When her fingers slid across a metal surface, her heart skipped a beat._

_She soon found a knob... and twisted it with all of her strength._

_The moment the door opened wide… the world around her dissolved and she suddenly found herself staring at a galaxy that had been dotted with millions upon millions of flickering stars. For the first time in her entire life, she saw a night sky: she was floating in an emptiness that seemed to stretch onwards until the end of time. Upon glancing down at her hands, she saw skin the color of cream-tinted snow staring back at her... and when she looked at her hair, she saw fiery auburn tendrils sliding around her body in glistening waves. Her eyes widened in shock, for this was the first time she'd ever seen the color of her hair.  
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_Red... the color red._

_"So... this is red?" she wondered, staring at her hair before looking at her arms and back at her hair. "Strange... I always pictured red differently." _

_Still, it was beautiful... soft, beautiful, and shiny: she touched a lock of her hair with a shaking hand, watching as it slid through her fingers and drifted in a weightless manner. She instantly looked at the rest of her body and jumped when the air rippled: all of a sudden, she she saw a face looking back at her... a reflection or a mirror of some sort. _

_"Is that... me?!" Victoria Rose Richardson whispered, eyes slowly widening. "That can't be me... it's not possible. I'm ugly, right?!"_

_For a moment, she wondered why everyone had always said she was ugly: there were no deformities on her cheeks, her skin was smooth and pale, and her lips were full. However, her eyes **were** a tad bit larger than the norm, and the abnormally pale green color actually made her wince: they were almost garishly light in color. After she was finished staring her fill, a brilliant flash of light suddenly lit up the world around her, stirring the stars like ripples in a pond. When it faded, she beheld a handsome woman with extraordinarily long hair standing upon a rock in the middle of a liquid surface. Somehow, Vicky knew she'd seen this lady somewhere once before... and even though she couldn't remember why, she knew that this woman was powerful. _

_"Who are you?" Victoria whispered, staring at the woman from her spot in the swirling starlight. "Where are we, and why... why can I see everything?"  
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_"It is has been a long time, Tauriel Ithlain," the woman stated in a lilting voice, staring at her with gentle blue eyes. "You are no longer who you once were, but your face and your heart are the same. Great danger is coming for you, my child... you must not be pulled back into the stream of fate, for if you do... History will repeat itself."_

_Almost instantaneously, horrifying visions burned their way into Victoria's mind: she had several flashes of horrifying monsters slitting the throats of men and women wearing ancient armor. More monsters were firing arrows from old-fashioned bows; her green eyes widened when she beheld visions of crows feasting on rotting flesh and black feathers raining down upon blood-soaked earth. Then she saw something that made her heart lurch and time slowed down: her hair was blasted away from her and the visions dissolved as a giant eye made of fire rose behind the blonde woman, pupil contracting into a catlike slit as it landed on Vicky's shaking form. The heat from its evil gaze made her tremble. _

_But then, a hellish voice drowned out the sound of the woman in front of her and made the girl's green eyes widen._

_"I see you..." the hellish voice whispered, making the girl's heart fly up her throat. Vicky covered her ears with a shriek and tried not to listen anymore, but the voice was echoing inside her head rather than outside of it. "I am coming... I will destroy... burn... you will burn." _

"—icky?" a muffled voice called.

_"Get away from me!" Victoria shrieked, shaking her head and slowly whirling around despite being caught in the fiery wind. "Help! Someone, help me!"_

_"Tauriel!" the woman called, voice fading and filling with static. "Do not... fate... history... change... the gateway!"_

_Victoria's long hair drifted around as the heat from the Eye's gaze fell across her body... and all of a sudden, she couldn't move._

_Her green eyes started turning yellow from the inside out, glowing like a demon's despite her terrified expression._

_She felt the heat of its evil spreading inside her._

_"Burn... burn... burn..." the demonic voice chanted, cackling as Vicky's body began to glow bright yellow. "You will burn!"_

_"No!" she shrieked, clutching her aching chest and falling to her knees when a burning pain seared through her back. "You're wrong! You're lying! I won't burn! I believe in God, you horrible demon! So, in the name of Jesus Christ, leave me alone!"_

_However, when two enormous wings exploded from her back in a spray of crimson, the girl's lungs caught and she let loose a scream of agonized fright. _

_"Burn!" the eye cackled; the blonde woman's blue eyes slowly widened when Vicky's hair started turning silver from the roots down. "Bu—"_

"Vicky! We're heeere!" someone trilled, voice a little muffled. "Time to get UP!"

All of a sudden, something extremely heavy landed on the girl's stomach, followed by something heavy that crushed her boobs.

With a violent jolt, her green eyes snapped open wide and she frantically blinked in an attempt to see what was around her. However, nothing but the same familiar darkness met her eyes: her breathing was ragged and uneven, but after a few moments, whatever was on top of her squirmed and two familiar giggles met her ears.

"Well, our plan worked!" Julie laughed, poking the blind girl's forehead. "Her eyes are open!"

Julie and Millie... what were they doing in her room?

"Ugh... what the hell?" Vicky mumbled, struggling to get up and completely failing at it. "Hey! Get off me, you fatties!"

"Why, Victoria! How rude!" Millie gasped, daintily popping a peanut butter cookie into her mouth with a little coo of delight. "I may nibble on a few cookies every now and then, but I practically weigh nothing at all! I'm a stick compared to Julie!"

"Are you calling me fat?!" the other girl squalled, punching her in the arm; when Millie giggled, Julie let out a shriek of anger. "You so are! You evil little scarecrow!"

"Why am I friends with you idiots?" Victoria asked, feeling her irritation at being squashed already melting away. "Seriously."

"Because you're too lazy to make new ones?" Julie airily suggested, patting her head before pausing. "Ew... you're covered in sweat."

Victoria snorted and closed her eyes with a shiver as she recalled the nightmare.

"That's not the issue here!" the redhead finally deadpanned. "The issue is that you dolts are crushing me _and_ touching me at the same time! Get off!"

"But your boobs are softer than your pillows!" Millie exclaimed, groping her chest and laughing when the redhead squealed. "A girl has to relax now and then!"

"Yeah, but any form of relaxation becomes _pointless_ if you have to suffocate a friend in the process, so get the hell off me!" Victoria wheezed, poking her tongue out in dismay before she started wriggling beneath their bodies. That's when a sharp pain seared through her ribs due to the way one of her friends moved: Vicky let out a gasp before squealing in agony. "Okay, ow! You're hurting me now! It _really_ hurts! Get off me right now! Please?!"

The command was quickly heeded this time, but the redhead was simply thankful that she was able to breathe properly. The blind girl slowly lifted a hand and and touched her forehead: her long hair had been plastered to her cheeks and neck due to the cold sweat that had enveloped her entire body while she'd been dreaming.

"Seriously, girlfriend, are you all right?" Millie asked, leaning forward and touching her head. "You're not burning up, but you look kinda... green."

"I just had a freaky nightmare, that's all," Vicky mumbled, hastily getting to her feet and stretching before jogging for the bathroom. "Give me seven minutes and I'll be ready to go: knowing you two, you probably expected this, so you came early... right?"

"You know us too well, sugar!" Julie laughed, sounding happy. "Now, hurry and get ready before the Adam's family wakes up!"

After hopping in the shower and washing herself clean, the blind girl grabbed her specially marked shampoo and conditioner. Once she'd finished washing her hair, she wrung the water out as much as she could and slipped on another one of Maria's old dresses. After making a few adjustments to the collar, she wrapped her hair up in a towel and hastily ran back to her bedroom.

"Whew, more than halfway done," the blind girl sighed, smiling when her friends paused. "Um... I'll... just get my shoes."

For a long moment, neither one of them spoke... but then...

"Vicky, what the hell are you wearing?" Millie finally asked, sounding as though she were about to burst into laughter. "You look ridiculous!"

"Huh?" the girl asked, touching the front of her dress with startled eyes. "I do?! But... isn't this one of Maria's old dresses?"

"Oh, that explains it," Julie sighed, flapping a dismissive hand. "I knew this was gonna happen someday or another. Hang on, girl, I got ya covered."

"Oh, no, you didn't seriously do it again, did you?" Millie groaned, making Vicky giggle. "Why are you always carrying random clothes?!"

"You never know when something might happen to the outfit you're wearing, hon," Julie explained, making Millie roll her eyes. "I never go anywhere without three spare outfits: you know that."

"Yeah, yeah, ever since the issue with the mashed potatoes," the other girl groaned, shaking her head. "I get it. Just make sure you give her the cutest one."

"Already planned on it!" Julie laughed, thrusting a pair of skinny jeans and a frilly shirt into the blind girl's hands. "Put these on, Vicky!"

"Um... okay?" the redhead uncertainly stammered, shrugging off the dress she'd been given in favor of sliding on the jeans. Once they were up, she fastened the button and slipped the blouse over the towel on her head. When she was fully clothed, she brushed herself off. "So, do I look okay?"

"Daaaaaayum girl!" Millie whistled, getting up and circling her like a vulture. "Wow! You make me jealous! You've got, like, the perfect figure!"

"Um, sorry?" Victoria mumbled, shrinking into the shirt like a turtle. "I... it's not like I... I mean..."

"Oh, come on, I'm just joshing ya," her friend giggled, smacking her back. "Well, sorta... you really do have a great figure, Vick. Now all ya gotta do is open up and you'd be a class-A hottie! I'd bet anything that if you opened up a bit more to other people, they'd like you just as much as we do!"

"Thanks," Victoria giggled, waggling her eyebrows in amusement, "but we nerds have to stick together."

"Well, you have a point there," Julie sighed, rolling her eyes, "but you gotta remember, Millie isn't a nerd. She could walk through the mosh pit at a Lollapalooza and come out the other side looking like one of those blonde supermodels in Glamour Magazine. I, on the other hand, will someday show up for my own wedding dressed in a flannel shirt, dirty jeans, boots, and socks that don't match."

Millie looked at Julie in sheer horror.

"Uh, if you ever want me to _attend_ your wedding, then you'll at least need to wear matching socks, heeled boots, and fashionable jeans with a cute-looking tank-top. I'm telling you right now that I won't be seen walking up to you on your wedding day and asking, 'Oh, Angie Dear! Where did you get those amazing clothes? The Banana Republic? The Gap? Or is that a new express line?' and watch you twirl around like a ballerina, shouting for all the world to hear, 'You like it? It's part of the Ralph Lauren Animal Poop collection!'"

Julie and Victoria burst into hysterical gales of laughter almost simultaneously, clutching their stomachs in merriment. Vicky was cracking up so badly that she couldn't breathe, and she was howling so heavily with mirth that she fell flat on her back and kicked at the air.

"Oh, man!" Victoria squealed out between heavy fits of laughter, gasping for air as tears streamed down the sides of her tomato-red face. "The saddest thing about that mental picture is the fact that I can see it happening one day!"

"I mean it!" Millie scoffed, snapping her fingers in a diva-like fashion. "Look, you can keep wearing those jeans with the raccoon poop stains on the legs if you want to! You can even wear overalls if you feel like it. Hell, you can keep wearing those crusty rubber boots for all I care—but please, girlfriend, by a _dress_ for your wedding!"

She folded her hands and shook them in front of her on the word 'dress,' looking as though she were pretending to be little Oliver begging the King for another bowl of porridge. Vicky and Julie burst into even harder fits of laughter: the latter soon joined the redhead in rolling around on the ground, kicking her legs at the air from the extreme abdominal pain and lack of air.

"R-raccoon poop stains?" Victoria squeaked hysterically, clutching at her cramping stomach. "Oh, man, how on earth did _that_ happen?!"

"Long s-story short, my dad asked me to take over cleaning the cages at our clinic a while back," Julie cackled, looking up at the ceiling with a huge, dazed grin before she sat up and pushed her glasses up her nose, "and I ended up falling down on a racoon turd. My favorite pair of jeans got stained."

Vicky shook her head with a sigh after the giggles had completely subsided, feeling strangely lighthearted and hopeful.

"Ya know, Vick, I think you should do something different with your hair today!" Millie finally stated, taking the towel off of Victoria's head. "I mean, your hair is so long... it's kind of annoying that you never do anything with it."

"Well, it's not like I want long hair," Vicky mumbled, shrugging when her friends gasped in horror. "What? I really don't!"

"If you ever cut your hair," Millie happily cooed, then started speaking in an alarmingly threatening voice. "I will _skin_ you."

Victoria let out a nervous giggle and awkwardly hunched her shoulders.

"Okay," she peeped, giving a sightless salute. "I promise I won't cut my hair."

"That's my girl!" Millie sighed, grabbing a brush and running it through her damp thigh-length tresses. "Now, after I style these beautiful curls, the three of us can get out of here and plan our coordinated outfits for tomorrow while we head to school! It's almost five thirty, so we should probably get going soon."

"Um, I told you yesterday that I couldn't make it to the mall," Julie groaned. "I have to help my dad with the animals tomorrow."

"Ugh! Drat it!" Millie grumbled; Vicky closed her eyes when the pleasant tugging sensations on her scalp began. "Of all times, too!"

"Darn," Julie agreed, shaking her head and clucking her tongue with mock helplessness. "Now I can't trail behind you for three hours while you power-shop and guys drool all over you. Oh, what a pity! Oh, life is so cruel!"

She began fluttering her eyelashes and clutched her heart in over-exaggerated distress. Millie made a face when the blind girl and the glasses-wearing brunette burst into laughter once again, but after a moment of scowling she joined in.

"Well, hey," she chuckled, finally giving in. "Sick animals are more important than buying jeans that don't have poop stains on them."

"You could come and help out at my place, you know," Julie said with a reproachful glance. "I'd be happy if you did, actually."

"Like I'd ever willingly get an animal's used lunch under my perfectly-manicured nails," Millie snorted, turning her nose up haughtily. "Like, ew?"

"Come help out tomorrow and I'll let you pick out a new pair of jeans for me," Julie said in a sly, sing-song voice as a mischievous grin spread across her face. Even a socially-awkward girl like Vicky could see that her friend was baiting Millie, so she bit her lip to keep from laughing aloud.

"Wait, real jeans? Not some pair of blue cardboard-looking bargain jeans?" Rebecca asked in disbelief, biting her own lip as a dreamy look flashed across her face. "Of course, you'll need a nice top to go with them…"

"Deal," Millie stated with a triumphant laugh: she had completely set her trap, "but only if you come over tomorrow."

"I hate it when you do this to me!" the blonde finally groaned. "Fine, it's a deal. Pick me up tomorrow morning in that blue dump you call a truck."

"Yay!" Julie squealed excitedly, jumping up and down like a little girl. "Let's get to school!"

"Yeah, I don't wanna bump into Maria on the way out," Vicky agreed, smiling when Millie finally tied a ribbon to fasten whatever she'd done. "I'm feeling good, so let's get going! It's a long walk!"

"I still don't get why your parents won't put you on a bus like every other normal person," the plump brunette sighed, patting her arm as they left the church and walked out into the morning air. "It doesn't really make sense, ya know?"

"Those people aren't my parents," Victoria stated softly, frowning a little as the events from the previous evening came back to her. "I don't want to be anything like them, honestly: Joanna literally put Blanco in a potato sack and told me to get rid of her, like some sort of busted kitchen appliance. Aside from Gabe, it seems like my whole family is totally messed up."

"Joanna did _what?!"_ her friends squawked at the same time.

"She put our cat in a potato sack and told me to get rid of her," Vicky repeated, giving a weak little shrug. "I almost died of a heart-attack, honestly... Blanco was always such a good kitten, so... I just didn't get it."

"Oh, God, don't tell me you actually did it, right?" Julie whispered, clutching her arm. "You didn't get rid of that adorable blue-eyed kitty, did you?!"

"Well, no... I didn't," Vicky laughed, grinning in the direction of the sky. "I mean, Joanna probably thought she'd run away if she was thrown outside, but it's not gonna be that easy since she's an outdoor cat: nobody seemed to notice that she was always getting outside through the upstairs window."

"So, what did you do?" Millie asked, patting her arm. "Did you let her go somewhere?"

"Well, actually, after I got her out of that horrid sack, I just opened the window like I normally do and she left on her own," Vicky explained, giving a little shrug before closing her eyes. "She's probably still hanging around somewhere, so I'll need to move her food dish outside. That way she won't get caught."

"Man, you're such a good girl!" Julie screeched, gripping the blind girl under the arms and lifting her up and down. "And so light, too! You'd make a good work-out exercise!"

"J-J-Julie!" Vicky whined, eyes large with dismay. "Don't use me as a work-out tool! Put me down! You know how much I hate being tiny!"

"Yeah, yeah, but we love you for it!" Millie chuckled once the blind girl was back on her feet. "Seriously, though... it's almost mind-boggling that you haven't gotten in good with the popular group at school!"

"If that ever happened, they'd always be taking me away from you guys, and I don't want that," the redhead snorted, patting her flushed cheeks as they walked towards their school; the sound of the Pacific Ocean was echoing faintly in the distance, and the smell of salt was carried along every breeze. "I'm happy enough as it is right here."

"So are we!" her friends laughed, sliding their hands into her own. "Life wouldn't be the same without ya!"

The three of them continued walking in the direction of their high school, completely oblivious of the fact that someone was watching them. However, just before they crossed the street, Victoria felt a strange prickling on her neck and halted in her tracks with furrowed brows. Feeling a weird tightness in her gut, she ignored how her friends stopped to look at her and turned her head to listen.

"What's wrong?" Julie asked, sounding a bit curious. "You okay?"

_Are we being followed?_ Victoria silently wondered, frowning a little. _I have this really weird feeling that someone's watching me._

"No, I just had a weird feeling, that's all," the blind girl finally replied. "I've been getting it a lot lately. It's no prob."

"What feeling?" her friends simultaneously asked.

"Well, corny as it sounds, sometimes I feel like someone's watching me," the girl nervously chuckled, giving a little shrug. "It's not a pleasant feeling."

"Well, um... I don't see anyone," Millie murmured, tilting her head to the side and leaning away to peer down the sidewalks. "Not even a suspicious shadow behind any of the telephone poles. Do you think it might be an animal or something? Or maybe someone who was driving past looked at us?"

"If they were driving, it would have passed by now," Vicky sighed, closing her eyes and struggling to find her center. "I still feel like I'm being watched."

"Ugh, quit with the voodoo mama crap already!" Julie muttered, shivering and rubbing the goosebumps off her arms. "I really hate it when you Medium-out on us!"

"It's not like I can control it," Victoria laughed, shaking her head in amusement. "You guys know that: I simply get those weird feelings now and then."

Just as she said it, the prickling sensation vanished and she blinked in surprise.

"Well, is anyone watching us?" Millie asked, glancing around in curiosity. "I can't say I don't believe, since you've been right in the past, but still..."

"Actually, the feeling just went away," Vicky muttered, frowning a little. "Weird. Ah, well, maybe I was wrong: it could have been a cat or something."

"Ee-gad!" Julie gasped, mocking clutching her cheeks with both hands as they started crossing the street. "Maybe it was Blanco!"

Millie laughed at the brunette's expression, but the two of them didn't notice how the blind girl locked up.

With eyes that had grown wide and a face that had gone bone white, Victoria lunged forward before she fully even realized what she was doing and pushed them from behind: time immediately seemed to slow down when the two girls went flying forward... but then, before she could comprehend what was happening, the screeching of tires and the sound of a horn blaring filled the air.

Vicky shrieked and cowered down with her hands over her head, one thought racing through her mind when she heard her friends screaming her name.

_I don't want to die!  
><em>

And like thunder without the sound, a monstrous pressure exploded from Victoria's head and smashed against the front of the pick-up truck that had lost control and veered towards her and her friends. The girl's long hair exploded free of its confines due to the blast: Millie and Julie gasped when the rear end of the truck lifted into the air at a ninety degree angle before smashing back down into the ground. Then, everything was silent, and Victoria lifted her head with shaken empty green eyes.

"W-what the hell?!" she whimpered, touching her face with shaking fingers. "What just happened?! Millie?! Julie?! Where are you?! Are you okay?!"

"V-Vicky..." the blonde girl whispered, staring at the front of the destroyed truck. "What...?!"

The redhead didn't respond: several people had already pulled over and were rushing down the sidewalk towards them.

One woman ran over to the driver's side and dragged the door open.

"Thank God..." she gasped. "Someone, call an ambulance! He's still alive!"

"Vicky! Are you okay?!" Julie squealed, tackling the trembling redhead to the ground and squeezing her lifeless. "OMG! That was so scary!"

"What just happened?" the redhead fearfully whispered, making her friend twitch and pull away. "I didn't... I... and... how?!"

"Um... you need to calm down: it was a freak car accident, nothing more," the brunette soothingly murmured, glancing at the man who'd just gotten out of his truck with a dazed expression; his nose was bleeding and he seemed a little shaken up, but aside from that, he wasn't seriously injured. "Since we're all right, let's just get out of here."

Before Victoria could respond, Millie came running back over and grabbed their bags.

"Um, I think we should get going now," she muttered. "Someone already called an ambulance, so there's no need to hang around."

"But... it was my fault, right?" Victoria asked, blinking as she was pulled to her feet. "Won't they need to talk to me?"

"Pshh, no way!" Millie laughed, shoving her towards the sidewalk. "It's not like you were the one who caused the truck to explode like that, so don't worry too much. For all we know, his engine could have caused the accident, right?"

Before she could respond, the redhead was pushed down the road and towards the school by her nutty friends.

Not that she minded... even after seeing something so strange, they were still on her side.

And that's precisely why she loved them so much.

However, they didn't really understand what Vicky had just done... they didn't know that she had somehow stopped that truck.

And truthfully, she wanted to pretend that she didn't know, too.


End file.
